Wed, 23 Sep 2009

On 28th July 2005, I was unlawfully arrested at Southwark tube
station when attempting to take the tube after work to meet my wife.
Chief Superintendent Wayne Chance, Metropolitan Police Service Borough
Commander for Southwark, has eventually apologised to my wife and I for
their actions and the trauma it caused us:

I would like to apologise on behalf of the Metropolitan Police
Service for the circumstances that arose on 28 July 2005 including your
unlawful arrest, detention and search of your home. I appreciate this
has had a deep and traumatic impact on your lives and I hope that the
settlement in this case can bring some closure to this.

I shall ensure that the officers concerned are made aware of
the impact of the events of that day and also the details of the
settlement in this case.

We are happy to be able eventually to put this behind us.

Just over four years ago, I entered the tube station without
looking at the police officers who were standing by the entrance. Two
other men entered the station at the same time. My jacket was allegedly
too warm for the season. I was carrying a backpack. While waiting for
the tube, I looked at people coming on the platform, I played with my
mobile phone, I took a piece of paper from inside my jacket.

The police found my behaviour suspicious and instigated a
security alert. They surrounded me. They asked me to take off my
backpack. They handcuffed me in the back. They closed and cordoned off
the tube station. They stopped and searched me under section 44 of the
Terrorism Act 2000. They emptied my pockets. They loosened my belt.
Explosive officers checked my backpack, gave the all clear and joked
about my laptop. The handcuffs were taken off (for a few minutes) and
some of the stuff I was carrying in my pockets was given back to me.

This should have been the end of the matter. Instead, an
officer informed me “[I] was under arrest on suspicion of
causing a Public Nuisance”. They then took me to Walworth
police station. They processed me. They took photographs, DNA samples,
fingerprints and palm prints. They searched our flat. They interviewed
me. Nine hours later I was granted bail. One month later when I
surrendered to custody, they said they have decided to take no further
action. It takes a further month and half to get my possessions back.
Three months after the arrest, the Police National Computer was still
listing me as under arrest.

I was arrested for a made up offence most likely in order to
justify their having closed the tube station. This unlawful arrest
caused further unnecessary expense from public funds and considerable
distress to my wife and I. Despite all the available evidence (bar CCTV
footage in the station, which the police never seized), investigators
from the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards failed
to find that my arrest was unlawful: “there were 'reasonable
grounds' to suspect an offence had been committed by Mr Mery and as
such the arrest was both lawful and justified”. The
intervention of a senior officer was required: “I disagree
with that conclusion in respect of the arrest. I agree that the stop
and search were lawful under that Act but I believe the arrest was
unlawful.” That was still not enough for the police to
apologise. The Independent Police Complaint Commission was of no help
as “[i]t is not within the remit of the IPCC to direct the
Metropolitan Police Service to issue a formal and public apology for
their action”.

The police apology will be shown to the officers who were
involved in my arrest and the subsequent search of our flat. Being
aware of the long term impact of their actions will encourage police
officers to realise that arresting innocents is not the only option
available to them. Letting innocents go free and safe must be possible
and has to be the preferred option. I hope that lessons will be learnt
and that in future when mistakes are made they will be acknowledged
immediately.

My DNA samples were destroyed and my DNA profile,
fingerprints, palm prints and PNC record deleted two years ago. The
litigation files maintained by the Directorate of Legal Services and
the investigation files compiled by the Directorate of Professional
Standards will be retained for a further six years, after which there
should be no trace at the Metropolitan Police Service about this
innocent.

We are very grateful to Sarah McSherry, Head of Actions
against the Police Department at Christian Khan, for her formidable
support in achieving this result. We would also like to take this
opportunity to express our thanks to the many individuals who
encouraged us in this long fight for our rights.